The last 12 months have presented unprecedented challenges for most operators around the world, and particularly for those who have aerial tourism as a target market. But Blade Aviation, based in Gravenhurst, Ontario (about two hours’ drive north of Toronto), is not only surviving the pandemic, but thriving.

Since November 2020, the company, formerly known as Heli Muskoka, has gained new owners, a new name, a new business direction, and two new aircraft. It has also just launched a new flight school.

The last 12 months have presented unprecedented challenges for most operators around the world, and particularly for those who have aerial tourism as a target market. But Blade Aviation, based in Gravenhurst, Ontario (about two hours’ drive north of Toronto), is not only surviving the pandemic, but thriving.

Even before these vast changes, Blade Aviation was something of a unique entity, having evolved to provide some relatively niche products that are a perfect fit for those living or visiting the Muskoka region. From executive-style aerial taxi shuttle flights between Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal to Muskoka; aerial construction support for remote palatial homes; to air tours of the spectacular Muskoka surroundings, Blade Aviation has worked hard to become a useful tool to enable people to better enjoy their time in the region.

A land of lakes, forests and idyllic islands, Muskoka has been a rural retreat for those in Southern and Central Ontario for more than a century. Lakefront cottages span from multimillion-dollar sprawling mansions, to more modest cabins that have been passed down from generation to generation. 

The summer is the peak time here, during which the population swells dramatically. A lot of the visitors come from Toronto, enduring the crawling traffic north to escape the city and enjoy the peace and quiet of a second home on the lake. 

Led by operations manager Jay McMackin, Blade Aviation had already built a steady stream of business in offering an air taxi service between Toronto and Muskoka, allowing passengers to fly over the clogged roads and head directly to their cottage, a journey of just 30 minutes by helicopter. 

The company now offers charter flights to and from Toronto’s three largest airports (Pearson, Buttonville and Billy Bishop), as well as from private locations within the city, and regularly flies shuttle flights to Ottawa and Montreal, too.

Two new aircraft have been added to Blade Aviation’s fleet to cater to the growth in these VIP-style flights: an executive-outfitted AS350 (due to be delivered to the company shortly after this story was published), and a brand-new Bell 407GXi (delivered in November 2020). The aircraft joined another AS350 and a Robinson R44 in the company’s fleet.

In bringing the 407GXi into the fleet, Blade Aviation had identified a requirement for an aircraft that could fly directly to Montreal from Muskoka or Toronto, carrying five passengers (or four passengers and their gear), without the need for a fuel stop.

A test flight in the aircraft at Bell’s facility in Mirabel, Quebec, suitably impressed both McMackin and the company’s owners.

“Bell did a great job presenting it to us,” he said. “The owners really enjoy the club seating layout in the back, with the kind of privacy it gives them for what they’re doing. The support was there for us, and it was just the right fit.”

And this included the perspective from the pilot’s seat.

“I was blown away, to be honest, with how it handled and how it flew — so stable and super smooth,” said McMackin. “The glass cockpit with the Garmin G1000H NXi system is really neat, and the machine is fast — we get 130 knots at 80 percent power in cruise. The power seems unlimited, and it’s just a really pilot-friendly machine, particularly with the three-axis autopilot.”

The aircraft, completed by Bell in Mirabel, has been customized with luxurious black leather seats with red diamond stitching, and Aeronautical Accessories bubble-style glass doors both in the cabin and cockpit. An all-black livery on the exterior completes the executive look, while an auxiliary fuel tank provides the endurance to fly for about three hours before refilling.

“Right from the get-go, the guys were great at Bell, getting through everything and explaining everything, and answering any questions we had — from acceptance to the maintenance side of things,” he said. “Any questions I have, I can call one of the guys at Bell, and I get answers right away.”

McMackin has already flown 160 hours with the new aircraft.

“It’s fit exactly what we expected from it, as far as getting the families that we are flying in it back and forth from Montreal, Ottawa, [and] Toronto,” he said. “It’s been phenomenal.”

For the time being, the 407GXi is only being used for executive charter. However, Blade Aviation does have a hook for it, and McMackin said he would like to see how it handles aerial construction work in the future.

A growth in personnel

The company is based in a custom-built 4,800-square-foot hangar at Muskoka airport, situated about halfway between the towns of Gravenhurst and Bracebridge. With the arrival of the two new aircraft, that hangar will be getting quite packed, but McMackin sees no need to move or expand for the time being. All maintenance for the fleet is completed by Skyline Helicopter Technologies in Sudbury, Ontario.

“This year has been an exceptional year for aerial construction lifting… I’ve been doing one to two lifts a week over the course of the winter to move building materials, and everyone’s telling me they’ve heard the ads on the radio.”

With its fleet growing to four aircraft, the company also needed to expand its staffing levels. Two full-time pilots — Amy Szakacsi and Trevor Zwicker — have joined McMackin, Glenn Graham, and seasonal pilot Gord Bain. And, having previously had an all-encompassing role — everything from washing the hangar floors, to advertising, scheduling maintenance, and being the chief pilot — McMackin has been able to split some of his workload with the newer members of the team.

“There are lots of people looking for work obviously right now, but for me it wasn’t necessarily about the experience that they came with, it was more whether they were the right people for the job,” he said. “One of them is a relatively low-time pilot, but they’ve got an amazing attitude. They’ve been helping with general work around the hangar and helping set up these new air tours we’re developing. It’s definitely helped the company a lot.”

The demand for air tours has gone hand-in-hand with the increased calls for charter flights, as people are looking to get away and do something different, said McMackin. 

“We’re developing little day trips that people can take with the helicopters,” he said. “The wilderness is so accessible in such a short period of time from here, so we’re setting up heli-picnic areas where you get dropped off and have the helicopter sit with you while you have a little picnic in the middle of nowhere, with all this beautiful scenery around you. The idea is to promote tourism right here in Muskoka.”

The R44 will be the primary aircraft for these kinds of trips, with larger aircraft available depending on group size, he said.

Aerial construction has also seen something of a boom since the start of the pandemic, said McMackin. More people seem to be deciding to build while “normal” life is somewhat restricted, and the company has tried to harness this through investing in radio ads to raise awareness of its capabilities.

“The construction industry here is really busy right now,” he said. “This year has been an exceptional year for aerial construction lifting. . . . I’ve been doing one to two lifts a week over the course of the winter to move building materials, and everyone’s telling me they’ve heard the ads on the radio. They’re also surprised when we give them a price, given what they might expect when you bring a helicopter into a scenario like that.”

The ads, he said, have focused not just on the time savings in using a helicopter to reach a remote build site, but also on the reduction in environmental impact versus clearing a path to bring a crane, excavator, or truck with building supplies.

Launching a flight school

The flight school — also marketed under the Blade Aviation name — officially opened in April 2020. It was an idea McMackin had been mulling for some time, having received a number of enquiries about the possibility of flight training from customers in the past.

“I think it’s a great fit for the area,” he said. “We’re only an hour or two hours away from the city if you’re coming up from the south, and Muskoka is a phenomenal training area as far as realistic helicopter operations go. The airport is quiet, we’ve got a good relationship with them, and the terrain around here is phenomenal for training bush-type flying operations.”

To begin with, the flight school will only be offering training for private licences. Szakacsi will be teaching the ground school and online learning portions of the course, while McMackin, a vastly experienced instructor in his own right, will be the primary flight instructor.

Finally, like most Canadian utility operators, Blade Aviation has a history of offering firefighting services during wildfire season. This has taken it as far away as Saskatchewan in the past, and this year’s fire forecast is for a busier year than the relatively quiet 2020. One of the company’s AStars will be kept “fire ready,” with the other capable of helping out, if needed.

In terms of rebranding the company, the decision to change its name was taken to reflect its broader reach, said McMackin.

“Heli Muskoka was very well known in this area, but we felt that it might limit us to the Muskoka area,” he said. “We wanted to choose something that wouldn’t tie us to a specific geographical area.”

After such a dramatic recent surge, future growth for Blade Aviation will be “at a controllable rate,” said McMackin, who is particularly excited to see the flight school develop.

“The timing was right to open up a school and we had got a lot of good inquiries for people wanting to get their license after we got the school open,” he said. “They come up and spend time here in the summer anyway, and instead of having to relocate for training, we can do it with them right on site here. We’re very excited about it.”